IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
Meeghan Holaway |
 Meeghan Holaway is one of the most courageous actors I know. To illustrate just how courageous, here's a quiz:
I first met Meeghan Holaway:
A) Backstage at New York's Variety Arts Theater.
B) One-half hour before she was to go on in front of a full house
. . . Read more
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TECHNIQUE AND SCENE STUDY CLASS
MONDAYS 7:00 PM
THE WORKING STAGE THEATER
1516 NORTH GARDNER STREET
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90046
Email us or visit our site at matthewarkin.com |
| Helpful Website |
 DailyActor.com is a wonderful site, filled with interesting and informative articles for both the aspiring and the working actor.
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Greetings!
I hope your summer has been filled with relaxation and restoration. Mine was busy, seeing a lot of terrific LA theater (My favorite performance was Laura James in Moose on the Loose at Theatre West), vacationing with my amazing children, and working hard at staying alert to inspiration for myself and my students as my class here in LA continues to grow.
I have other very exciting news to share: I am thrilled that I will be playing the leading role in the world premiere of Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis at South Coast Rep, the main stage production of the 2012 Pacific Pacific Playwrights Festival. It is a beautiful new play, by a wonderful playwright. It captivated the audiences that saw it performed as a workshop at the 2011 Festival, and I hope you can all come down to see the full production, to be directed by Warner Shook.
And as you know, audits are welcome at my Technique and Scene Study Class, so drop in on a Monday evening, or to your friends and tell them to get in touch.
Here's to a wonderful fall for all of you, filled with many rewards from both work and play.
Sincerely,
Matthew Arkin
Matthew Arkin's Technique and Scene Study Class
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MIND THE GAP: How to avoid preconceptions, and bring truth, freshness and spontaneity to your work.
Austin Pendleton, the wonderful actor, director, author, and teacher at New York's HB Studio, was directing a reading of a new play. On a break during rehearsal, one of the other actors approached me with a question.
"Do you know what this means?" she asked, pointing to one of her lines. "I'm not sure I understand what I'm talking about here."
"I'm sorry," I said, so that Austin would hear me, "but I studied with Austin, and he taught me never to read the other actors' lines before doing a reading, only to read my own. That way I can be surprised by what the other characters are saying."
Austin piped up. "I've improved upon that technique since you were in my class, Matthew. Now I don't even read my own lines before a reading. That way I can be surprised by what I'm saying."
Of course, we were both kidding. But the joke springs from an idea . . . read more . . .
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A CONVERSATION WITH DALLAS TRAVERS
In August I had the pleasure of appearing as a guest on Dallas Travers' Thriving Artist Circle. It was a wonderful discussion covering a wide range of topics relating to spontaneity, creativity and confidence in your auditions and performances. You can listen to our conversation here.
For those of you who don't know Dallas, do yourself a favor and check out one of her free seminars on how to boost your acting business. It is filled with invaluable advice. Many of us, as artists, have little inclination to treat our careers as a business. Some of us try, but have no experience or knowledge as to how to go about it.
Dallas combines information and expertise into an inspirational, achievable, no-nonsense program. I think she is very much worth a look. You can sign up for her free seminar by clicking on this link.
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HAITI REMEMBERED
AN ACTOR GIVES BACK BY STEPPING BEHIND THE LENS. You can get a beautiful book, and make a significant contribution.
"There is more to Haiti than rubble, although that's rarely portrayed in the media," says Kendra Waldman, actor, entrepreneur and humanitarian. An avid photographer, Kendra visited Haiti . . . read more . . .
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